Does your child spend enough time playing?

On the first day of fall there is frost on the grass in the fields as I drive to work. The maples are turning red. The kids come dashing into the classroom wearing new snug fleeces and sneakers: the first time their toes have been covered since summer.

Every week I am struck by their exuberance; by their unbounded energy and enthusiasm. They come into the classroom like puppies--especially the boys, always the boys. They race one another to the door even though they're supposed to be using walking feet. They laugh, twirl, share stories about their bus rides ("Our bus almost exploded this morning! Really!"), and swap glimpses at secret diaries (a new obsession among the girls.) They come to school eager to play, eager to have fun, eager to learn.

And it's this fact--that they have this unquenchable desire to chase each other around the room or linger in a corner whispering secrets--that always makes a lump swell at the back of my throat; because especially during these weeks in mid September, every single teacher in every single classroom is focused on academic testing. Play isn't even on the schedule.

Since No Child Left Behind, or maybe even before it, there has been an increasing push towards earlier academic accomplishment in schools. In an attempt to remain competitive nationally and internationally, schools have begun to cut recess, and to pack in extra academic hours wherever possible--limiting student's unstructured opportunities to initiate play with each other.

Yet play is an integral and vital part of learning. David Elkind, who is a professor emeritus of child development at Tufts University, and the author of several books including The Hurried Child, Miseducation, and most recently, The Power Of Play, notes that with recent trends towards increased testing "... all too many kindergartens, once dedicated to learning through play, have become full-day academic institutions that require testing and homework. In such a world, play has come to be seen as a waste of precious time."

And while the lack of play might be most startling in kindergarten, the emphasis on testing and academic success at the expense of play is felt by every student at every grade level. Children are spending more and more of their time in structured learning environments, or doing adult-led organized sports. They also spend significantly more time engaged in passive leisure: the result of their complete immersion in the culture of technology that surrounds them.

As a result, it is not unusual for me to have several children in my class who have never played Kick the Can or Hop Scotch (not to mention the scads of kids who have never climbed a tree, or spent an afternoon digging in the mud.) They come into my classroom eager to play, but unsure of how. They argue and fight and tattle. Or they try to involve me: as their mediator, guide, and imagination consultant.

"What shall we play?" they ask, or "He took the cards away from me, and now I'm mad!"

Remember when you had to solve those kinds of issues on your own with a bunch of kids from your neighborhood, or a pack of kids from your class at the periphery of the playground?

You were doing something important then; something just as important as learning to read, or learning to add numbers or comparing liquids and solids. And you will be giving your child a great big enormous gift if you encourage-no, require--him or her to PLAY in an unstructured, unscheduled, and minimally supervised way as often as possible.

Unstructured play gives children the opportunity to be problem solvers and active thinkers. And I can tell right away which kids spend time playing regularly. I know which ones have lingered over mud pies in their back yards or built Lego castles and monsters without reading directions first. They are always the ones who write the best stories; who can solve problems independently; who initiate and innovate and create.

According the American Academy of Pediatrics, "Social-emotional learning is best integrated with academic learning; it is concerning if some of the forces that enhance children's ability to learn are elevated at the expense of others. Play and unscheduled time that allow for peer interactions are important components of social-emotional learning."

And, while diminishing playtime is a result of academic pressures and testing at school, you, as a parent might also be to blame.

Take a moment to think about what your child does during the week. Add up the hours spent interacting with technology (video games--yes, the Wii counts!--TV, computer time, etc.,) learning in a classroom environment, and attending extracurricular activities. Then tally the total time they spend engaged in unscheduled, unstructured play every week. Do the numbers add up equally? Even roughly?

If not, perhaps it's time to rethink signing up for that extra fall sport you were considering, and instead, shoo your kiddo out the door for some good old fashioned play with sticks and balls and mud in the backyard.